Doom Patrol #110

Doom Patrol #110 (1967)
by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani

The conclusion of the latest Brotherhood of Evil storyline.

Speaking of the previous issues, Garguax was acting so independently that I doubted whether he was the real leader of the Brotherhood; the story begins by proving me wrong.
Get used to The Brain’s new terrible look, it’s here to stay for the remainder of the retrospective.

The Brotherhood still thinks the Doom Patrol is dead, which seriously makes me lose their competency. Yes the Doom Patrol faked their deaths, but they later fought and defeated Garguax’s super-android… does it mean that NOBODY was checking on that fight???

Chief’s research tells him that Madame Rouge was the one to sabotage the Brotherhood’s attempt to murder them… but he also SOMEHOW figures out that she’s in love with him???

What the… what is he basing this on???

The last time Madame Rouge and Negative Man shared ANY significant amount of time in the same scene was SEVEN APPEARANCES AGO, or THREE YEARS EARLIER, on Doom Patrol #87… where she was pretending to be someone else.
So what, now Chief has decided that she wasn’t faking?

The Doom Patrol is still pretending to be dead, but honestly I have my doubts that the guy who is supposed to be the third richest man in the world would be able to disappear for so many days without the news reaching the public. Especially since he’s not exactly dropping off the face of the Earth.

Chief is able to track the Brotherhood landing back to Earth (remember that they’re currently staying in Garguax’s Moon base)…

…and if you thought that the Brain looked significantly less creepy with his new look… we’ve basically ruined him as a villain now.

Having The Brain pilot a giant robot was already a step too far for me, but giving him a super-powerful energy body is a thousand times worse.

Great use of the element of surprise, guys. It sure was worth the wait.

The fight between The Brain’s energy body and Negative Man is quite awesome to watch, but I can’t stand The Brain being a physical threat.
What’s the point of making him a brain in a jar if he can become a giant monster?

At this point Negative Man is not supposed to be able to talk in his energy form; we’ve seen him break the rule MANY times before. We’ll see if it sticks.

I’ve said it way too many times, but Premiani is an underrated artist. Just look at this storytelling!

I also like how the fight is resolved: with Robotman throwing Mallah directly against The Brain’s energy body.

Notice that The Brain seems to really care about Mallah. Since you wouldn’t normally expect this from a “purely evil” villain… I wonder if this is what made Morrison decide that The Brain and Monsieur Mallah were a romantic couple.

If that’s the case, considering a later scene… it’s tough love.

Negative Man mentions Chief’s theory to Madame Rouge… and she’s even less convinced than me.

Normally I would call out this behavior, but I have to agree with Robotman… that was kind of funny.

Also I think we will have a tie for the Best Reaction Shot once I do the awards at the end of the retrospective.

The Chief is just flabbergasted that a computer couldn’t predict love.

Elasti-Girl seems to be calling him out…

…but that would make TOO much sense for the Silver Age, so instead she reasons that Madame Rouge must be in love with Chief.

Remember the super-android from last time? Turns out that Beast Boy strangling him didn’t kill him, so the Doom Patrol has been keeping him in the basement.

Until Garguax powers him remotely. If he can do that, why have him rely on the mace???

Meanwhile, we follow the trial to decide whether Beast Boy will remain with his legal guardian… and it’s not going well.

Mento faking his death was ALSO completely useless, by the way.
Did his lawyer not consider the possibility that the other side would lie???

Totally normal behavior from a legal guardian.

Beast Boy’s idea on how to leave the house is brilliant!
Even though I can’t decide what’s creepier: the fly having a human head with fly eyes, or having tiny human hands and feet.

Having gone through the legal ways, Mento decides to get the guardian’s papers… by using his powers to throw them around.

Meanwhile Beast Boy has gone to the Doom Patrol headquarters… and his stomach must be REALLY happy that in later years he’ll become a vegetarian.

Time for the rematch nobody wanted!

God bless Bruno Premiani… I couldn’t care less for this fight but he makes it AWESOME.

All while Negative Man and Robotman are at the movies.
This feels like a reference to a specific movie… any guesses?

But they’re back in time to finish the fight.

The android then flees in the most embarrassing way ever.

And we close the issue by going back to the trial plot… which I thought was concluded, didn’t the judge already rule?
This is where Beast Boy’s secret identity is exposed.

Or not!
Will the real Beast Boy please stand up?

Okay I’m quite confused here. The judge already had a verdict, then days later he completely changes his mind?
I’m no lawyer but this doesn’t look like how things work.

Well at least the judge didn’t immediately declare Beast Boy is now adopted, so we can presume there’s a whole process after this.

As for the fake Beast Boy, it was just Elasti-Girl.

Wait, does this mean that Beast Boy has a high-pitched voice? I thought he was at least 15, wouldn’t the difference be noticeable?

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Historical significance: 10/10
Beast Boy being adopted by Mento and Elasti-Girl will of course be majorly important. I could detract a couple of points because the specifics don’t really matter, but it also develops the Madame Rouge subplot.

Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Flawless computer logic.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Quite disjointed, as we jump back and forth between plots with little reason. Resolving Beast Boy’s situation in a few pages at the end feels very rushed, considering how long that has been going on, and the idea of having the Doom Patrol play dead turns out to have been completely unnecessary.
The fight scenes would be utterly forgettable with a different artist, but even Bruno Premiani can only do so much.
And as I have mentioned, I think that giving a full energy body to the Brain completely ruins him as a villain.

 Times Robotman has been damaged: 20

 Issues when Robotman is never damaged: 16